MUSKEGON, MI -- Steven Paul Spencer of Ravenna has been charged with driving while intoxicated causing death for allegedly smoking marijuana and causing a head-on crash Saturday on Heights Ravenna Road.

The crash killed John Shumaker, 37, of Grand Haven.

Spencer, 24, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the felony.

According to court records, he posted a $25,000 surety bond Sunday after a Muskegon County 60th District Court magistrate signed a warrant for his arrest. Spencer was scheduled for a walk-in arraignment June 29.

The crash happened around 4:20 p.m. on Heights Ravenna near Ensley Road in Sullivan Township. Shumaker was declared dead at the scene, and his daughter was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at a Muskegon hospital.

Shumaker was driving a Ford Focus west on Heights-Ravenna when Spencer's eastbound 1986 Chevrolet pickup truck tried to pass another truck heading east, Muskegon County Sheriff Dean Roesler said earlier. The pickup truck driver slammed head-on into the Ford, he said.

Roesler said Spencer admitted smoking marijuana before the crash. The sheriff said toxicology results are pending.

Sorry, but I didn't see in the article where is claimed that smoking marijuana was a contributing factor in the accident. The man's own attorney admits that he smoked marijuana 5 or 6 hours before the crash, and while traces of the drug man be in his bloodstream, it is doubtful that he could be considered “high”.

Spencer, in a truck, tried to pass another truck during a rainstorm. When he went into the oncoming lane to make the pass, he ran headlong into the Ford Focus, which is a Compact/Small family car (1-1/4 ton). Assuming he was driving a 1986 Silverado (2-1/4 ton), their most popular truck that year, it appears to have made short work of at least the driver’s side of the Focus.

Oddly enough, had Spencer been high on marijuana, he likely would have been *less* likely to attempt the fatal pass, as intoxicated marijuana users (within reason) are generally *safer* drivers than sober drivers. They tend to drive the limit or under, and seldom use maneuvers that increase their risk.

So best guess is that his attorney was not lying, that he had smoked marijuana earlier, but was no longer intoxicated by it. This may be reflected in toxicology tests, but I’ve no idea if ppm of THC in the blood that legally defines intoxication bears any relationship with actual intoxication.

Operating vehicles or machinery while impaired is always dangerous. However, it is much more dangerous under the influence of legal alcohol and many prescription drugs than with pot.

In fact, there are some studies that show smoking pot while driving is not very dangerous at all. Some studies even say it improves driving by reducing speeding and improving focus. Alcohol is practically 100% proven to cause driving impairment in everyone. Pot has not been conclusively proven to do so.

Also, pot is less harmful than alcohol from every single medical standpoint. Brain damage, body damage, addiction, impairment, toxicity, etc. Even the lung damage from pot can be eliminated with edible pot and vapor inhalers. Abuse of alcohol and many Rx drugs is 100% proven to cause permanent brain and body damage. There is NO evidence that pot causes any permanent damage, even when abused.

If the WOD was truly “for our own good”, they would be fighting alcohol and Rx drug abuse far more than they fight pot. But it is not. The WOD is simply a scam to make money for drug pushers and law enforcement while doing nothing to reduce drug abuse. After 40 years and $1 Trillion spent, there are absolutely no results to show but more cops, less civil rights and billionaire kingpins getting on the Forbes 500.

Right now booze and pills are given out like candy and causing 100% proven damage and death every single day. All while the WOD idiots go after non-toxic pot plants that have never damaged anyone with no-knock SWAT teams.

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